Civic video documents ‘dangerous’ intersection in Mattituck

The Mattituck-Laurel Civic Association has created a video documenting traffic patterns at the three-way intersection of Love Lane, Main Road and Old Sound Avenue in Mattituck.

During the civic’s meeting Monday, audience members shrieked as they watched the six-minute video depicting cars nearly crashing into each other and drivers making illegal U-turns in the middle of traffic.

In addition, the video showed the difficulty for drivers attempting to make left turns from Love Lane to Main Road as other cars traveled from Main Road to Old Sound Avenue.

Civic president Mary Eisenstein and board member John Carter recorded the video in May to assist the town as it looks to complete a traffic study and apply for grants to improve the intersection.

“What we’ve heard from our community is that the first consideration is that it is pedestrian friendly,” Ms. Eisenstein said, adding the traffic calming effort is part of the civic’s goal to also improve safety near Mill Lane and Factory Avenue.

In April, the civic presented to the town its own recommendations to improve the three-way intersection, such as banning left turns from Love Lane onto Main Road. Other traffic calming suggestions included installing a stop sign at Main Road and Love Lane, as well as adding pedestrian crosswalks.

After showing the traffic video Monday, Mr. Carter described it as a “rough first cut” and plans to create a short film for the town and post a video online for public viewing.

“For many of us who use that intersection every day,” Mr. Carter explained, “we find it to be fundamentally unsafe.”

Real estate agent Michael Herbert, whose office is near the intersection, said after the meeting that the video was an accurate depiction of what he experiences daily.

“It’s a very dangerous situation,” Mr. Herbert said. “I don’t know how much they can do to correct it, but thank God there have not been more accidents.”

Mr. Carter agreed.

“The fact that there hasn’t been an accident is an accident,” Mr. Carter said. “It’s by chance that we go day after day and not have accidents there.”